


Let Me Help

by sparkandwolf (thatnerdemryn)



Series: How the Scene Should Have Gone - Sterek Edition [7]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Universe, Derek Hale Takes Care of Stiles Stilinski, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotionally Hurt Stiles Stilinski, Episode: s03e22 De-Void, Forced Hugging, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Nogitsune Stiles Stilinski, Werewolf Healing, but not in the way you think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23380501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatnerdemryn/pseuds/sparkandwolf
Summary: Panic surged through Derek’s body, unknowing if the Nogitsune was playing yet another trick on him, making him believe that Stiles,his Stileswas back. Standing in front of him at the door to his loft, hanging off of Scott, barely able to stand.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: How the Scene Should Have Gone - Sterek Edition [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1668073
Comments: 14
Kudos: 335





	Let Me Help

**Author's Note:**

> This... was supposed to be a fluffy Derek taking care of Stiles fic. It... is no longer that. But Derek does take care of Stiles. So, there's that.

All at once, it was like Derek could breathe for the first time in weeks, but it was pushed out of his lungs like he’d been punched in the stomach. That seemed to always be how Stiles made him feel and that first sight of him was no different. Panic surged through Derek’s body, unknowing if the Nogitsune was playing yet another trick on him, making him believe that Stiles, _his_ _Stiles_ was back. Standing in front of him at the door to his loft, hanging off of Scott, barely able to stand. 

He looked weak, the dark circles under his bloodshot eyes growing by the minute and his skin a sickly white. Derek’s chest ached at the sight. He couldn’t move. As much as he wanted to run forward, gather Stiles into his arms and hold him as tightly as possible, he held himself back, somehow. He wasn’t going to let the Nogitsune trick him, not again. It wasn’t until Scott looked up from where his eyes were plastered on Stiles’ face and nodded, that Derek made a move. 

The triskelion box dropped from his hands, the thud and scatter of nails reverberating through the silence of the loft. Derek moved slowly at first, taking a few cautious steps toward them. Stiles nodded at Scott, unwrapping his arm from around Scott’s shoulder and stumbled forward. Derek caught him, pulling Stiles into his arms and breathing in his scent. He smelled like Stiles again, all traces of darkness gone, and Derek had never smelled something more perfect. 

“You’re you,” Derek said, the relief he felt pouring out into his words and his grip around Stiles’ waist. Derek felt Stiles relax into him, letting Derek carry his weight over to the lone couch in the middle of his otherwise empty loft. Scott didn’t follow, nodding over at Derek, a silent question that Derek thought Scott should have known the answer to. Derek nodded back, assuring Scott that of course, of course he would take care of Stiles. Stiles seemed to feel Derek’s movement and waved a trembling hand toward Scott. 

“I’m okay, buddy,” Stiles said weakly, not bothering to turn his head from where it was nestled in Derek’s shoulder. Scott nodded and without another word, slid the loft door shut. At the sound of it closing, Stiles seemed to breathe a little heavier. 

“How can I help?” Derek asks, already wrapping a hand around his wrist to try and take the pain away. He didn’t think it could hurt more than seeing Stiles like that, feeble and frail and god, was he shaking? Before Derek could grab on, Stiles jerked his wrist away more pitifully than Derek thought he meant to and whimpered. 

“Don’t help me, Derek. I… I need you not to help me,” Stiles ordered, his voice stern and focused in a way that reminded Derek eerily of the dark spirit that possessed him even hours before then. Derek didn’t try to heal him, didn’t force Stiles to let him help, just peered down at the pasty figure on his lap. He was curled up, his head on Derek’s chest with Derek’s arm around his knees. If Stiles wouldn’t let him draw the pain away, he would use his warmth to stop the quivering that only seemed to get worse. 

“Why?” Derek asked. He couldn’t begin to understand why Stiles wouldn’t just let him help. What good was it, being a werewolf, if he couldn’t use his abilities to  _ help _ , especially Stiles. Derek had never felt more useless. Stiles moved then, pushing himself up enough so he could look at Derek. 

“I… It made me say, think, these horrible things. It made me convince you all that I was worth saving and--” His voice cut out with a bout of dark laughter that had chills running up and down Derek’s spine. “Scott tried to take the pain away, too, you know. Tried to take away the pain of what I’ve done, but why? Why would any of you-- I said things, did things, things that--” Stiles waved his hands around like he was searching for the right way to blame himself. Derek wished he could take away a different kind of pain. 

“You are worth saving,” Derek said viciously. How could Stiles not see the lengths his family, his friends, Derek, would go to save him? How could he not feel deserving of that? When Derek looked at Stiles, all he could see was good, the best of everyone in Beacon Hills. He tried to reach for Stiles’ twitching hands, ignoring the slight comfort he felt from seeing a movement that was purely Stiles, but Stiles wouldn’t let him. He moved so no part of him was touching Derek anymore and Derek couldn’t ignore the hurt that raced through him. 

“How can you all want to help me? How can you sit there, knowing that I-- Lydia is  _ gone _ . He  _ has _ her and you’re all trying to help me? Me?!” Stiles was getting progressively angrier, trembling violently from where he sat. “My hands wrapped around a sword and I twisted it inside my best friend, I choked Aiden within an inch of his life, I threw you into a  _ wall _ , Derek, I-- Every minute of chaos the Nogitsune fed on, I--” Stiles fumbled then, over his words, over his feet as he stood up too quickly, seemingly needing to get away from Derek. Derek stood, hands out and ready to catch Stiles if he needed. 

“Stiles, that wasn’t you. We know that wasn’t you,” Derek assured, making no other movement as Stiles paced lamely in front of him, his feet dragging against the floor. He tried to think of what he could say, what he could do to make Stiles believe him. He needed Stiles to realize what they all were willing to do to make sure Stiles came back to them. They needed Stiles back, Derek more than anyone. 

“I enjoyed it, Derek!” Stiles yelled, surging toward Derek until his face was only a few inches away. Derek wasn’t scared of Stiles. Even as the Nogitsune, Derek couldn’t bring himself to be anything but angry. “I fed on the chaos, too. The Nogitsune was inside me, but I felt everything, all of it, and I learned to like it.” Stiles back away again, shaking his head in what looked like disbelief. “Doesn’t that scare you, Derek? Doesn’t that make me unworthy of your comfort, of your need to make everyone around you less hurt than you?” His words stung, of course they did. Stiles had been the only one that didn’t walk on eggshells around the hurt Derek lived with every day, but to hear him so blatantly walk over it, it hurt. 

“It wasn’t you,” Derek said again. He thought it was worth repeating as he reached a hand out toward Stiles' shoulder, hoping Stiles would accept his small gesture of comfort. Stiles’ hand shot up, wrapping around Derek’s wrist and twisting. He let out a growl of pain, his other hand instinctively pushing into Stiles’ chest. It was like slow motion, the way Stiles’ face changed, the drop of Derek’s wrist from his hand, and his fall to the floor. He crawled back on his hands until he reached the coffee table, panic and fear prominent on his face. 

“I didn’t mean, I-- I’m sorry, Derek, I--” Stiles broke. Derek had been broken before, had seen others succumb to their emotions on a regular basis, but seeing Stiles curled on the floor, his face in his hands, the tears streaming down his cheeks, it was all too much. Derek stopped caring if Stiles wanted his help or not. He raced over, kneeling next to Stiles’ small form and pulled him into his arms. Stiles fought it, for seconds, minutes, Derek wasn’t sure. Then he slumped, leaning into Derek, his forearms on Derek’s chest and his hands grabbing at his shirt. 

“Let me help you, Stiles, let me--” Stiles nodded vigorously into Derek’s neck where his face had settled, his body convulsing with chills and Derek thought, pure adrenalin. He wrapped his arms around Stiles’ waist, pressing his palms flat against his back. Skin on skin, Derek could feel how frigid Stiles was. He wanted to move him, cover him in blankets on his bed, and lay across his finally restful body, but that was too much. He knew Stiles, he knew that moving him at that moment could cause him to break all over again and Derek couldn’t handle it. It may have been selfish, but Derek couldn’t be the one to make his hurt worse. So he did what he was best at and took Stiles’ pain away. He laid back on the floor, holding Stiles as close as he could, Stiles covering his entire body with his own. Derek pulled every ounce of pain he could until his own body shook with it. 

The only thing that kept him from breaking was Stiles’ soft, “thank you,” and the sound of his breathing slowing as he fell into sleep. Derek kept his arms wrapped tight around Stiles’ waist, pressed a gentle kiss to the top of his head, and reminded himself that Stiles was okay. He had his Stiles back and Stiles was  _ okay.  _ Only then, did he let himself break, silently and deliriously, the scent of Stiles the only thing keeping him from losing control. So he breathed Stiles in, his warmth, the smell of love and home, and let himself fall asleep, too. 

**Author's Note:**

> I have a [Tumblr](https://sparkandwolf.tumblr.com) specifically for my Sterek obsession so feel free to follow it for updates and snippets and other Sterek content and use my ask to send me prompts, coda ideas, or just scream with me about Sterek. 
> 
> Also, feel free to follow my [Twitter](https://twitter.com/thatnerdemilyj) and let me know what you think. 
> 
> Please, please, please let me know your thought in the comments and leave kudos if you enjoyed it!


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